Banff Pride heading in new direction

The first Banff Pride meeting of the year was held Saturday. The LGBTQ2 organization is reorganizing and potentially expanding its Pride events this year, said Shane Nizinkevich, music teacher for both Banff schools and Banff Pride organizer.

“[We’re] making Banff inclusive for LGBTQ and making sure that Banff Pride happens, you know, or is going to happen. It hasn’t happened yet for 2018,” said Nizinkevich. “But the plan is that will go forward in October 2018 and making sure that we can continue to celebrate diversity and continue to show that our community is an inclusive place for all, for everyone.”

A dozen community members and allies gathered to discuss Banff Pride’s history and then generated ideas together. In 2013, the organization began as Bow Valley Cares but has evolved into Banff Pride over the years. Nizinkevich said that while past leadership has been strong, particularly under Jo Bembridge and Coun. Corrie DiManno, Banff Pride is heading in a new direction.

Moving forward, there will be more secession planning and further structuring. A working committee of eight community members was formed this weekend which will act as the primary organizer of this year’s Pride events.

“What’s really nice is there’s still some, even though it’s reorganizing, there’s still some continuity from what’s happened in the past and also with some new faces as well,” Nizinkevich said. There has been some turnover but some of their longer term organizers, like Coun. DiManno, are staying on.

Banff Pride’s annual events have usually run one or two days but Nizinkevich said that they are hoping to extend to a full Pride Week this fall. Following tradition, the week will open with flag-raising, host different family friendly events during the week and end with the capstone final celebration at Wild Bill’s. The committee will be looking at the second or third week in October but will be finalizing dates this summer.

As its name indicates, Banff Pride will be localized but open to all from Exshaw to Lake Louise.

“So right now, it is kind of the focus of Banff but, of course, how we operate in the Bow Valley is [that] everyone is welcome to come to events. We really want to celebrate that. We really want people from all over.”

Banff Pride hopes to collaborate with organizations like Bow Valley Pride in future. Banff Pride is also looking at how to connect with LGBTQ2 community members in areas that are more isolated across the valley.

“It’s about inclusion and having everyone together, regardless of where you are from, regardless of any gender identity, sexual orientation, gender expression, all of those things,” Nizinkevich said.

Nizinkevich has been in the community for 10 years and he said that more and more people are identifying as LGBTQ2. He said that it’s a sign that things are moving in the right way and that more of a “visible conversation” between different communities and organizations is happening.

Banff Pride currently has different people involved from town hall, from the service industry, professional industries and a range of different backgrounds. Nizinkevich said it was a “really nice cross-section” of townspeople present at their first meeting.

“In Banff too it’s a lot of allies that do a lot of really fantastic work and they were there as well.”

The LGBTQ2 organization will start its events this summer with a walking float at Canada Day. Banff Pride invites the community to join in — more information can be found at the Banff Pride Facebook group and Twitter page.

“After our meeting today, I’m pretty excited about the group of people that are there, the kind of community feedback that we’ve been getting already,” Nizinkevich said. “So just starting to move things forward.”

June is celebrated as Alberta’s Pride Month. For more information visit alberta.ca